Hospitals use oral airways with acute care victims of accidents and the like for providing oral communication between a patient's throat and the patient's gaseous environment. More specifically, oral airways provide a means for depressing a patient's tongue to allow gaseous communication into a patient's lungs.
Endotracheal tubes are sometimes used in conjunction with oral airways to provide a means for introducing a gas, such as oxygen, directly into the trachea of the patient. For example, the invention disclosed in U.S. patent application No. 07/820,305, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,643, discloses a novel oral airway with a flange having a C-shaped opening to which to demountably attach an endotracheal tube. In the past, an endotracheal tube has been typically taped to an oral airway to prevent lateral and longitudinal displacement between the oral airway and the endotracheal tube, that is, to stabilize the endotracheal tube with respect to the oral airway. The oral airway is then typically fixed to the patient by means for a cord or tape wrapped about the patient's head.
It is important to stabilize the endotracheal tube with respect to the oral airway as the depth to which the endotracheal tube is inserted into the patient's trachea is critical. To ensure proper intubation, the doctor must not insert the endotracheal tube either too shallow or too far into the patient's trachea. Heretofore, a need has existed for an endotracheal tube which will not slide longitudinally along an oral airway when attached to the oral airway.
Thus, it is one of the objects of the present invention to provide an endotracheal tube attachable to an oral airway, for example, with an oral airway having C-shaped openings while providing a means for preventing longitudinal displacement of the endotracheal tube with respect to the oral airway.